He took leave, prepared for days, and flew from Delhi to Hyderabad — about fourteen thousand rupees in flights — for an interview in his field, industrial fermentation.
He arrived among the first. He said the HR team spoke mostly in Telugu and called local candidates ahead of him; several who arrived after him were interviewed for twenty to thirty minutes. When his turn came, it lasted barely ten. No technical discussion, he wrote, no fermentation questions — nothing to show what he knew. He watched one interviewer scroll down to “not suitable.”
He asked about his travel costs. There was no approval for reimbursement. “If my profile was unsuitable,” he wrote, “why shortlist me in the first place?” He acknowledged he might simply have been the wrong fit.